The Places Between the Stars'
by keiman and kei
Summary: Master is off again. This time he's dragging everyone in the 3WA and the rest of his 'guests' all over the Universes to find the 'Decalogue' the fabulous Shadow Sword powered by the dark Bring shadow stones. Did the True Knights Templar know about this deadly weaponry as well? Racing across the Cosmos Angela de Roncesvalles and the time lord the Castelain must find it!
1. Ch 1 'Zoe's Homecoming'Another Quest B

THE PLACES BETWEEN THE STARS

DISCLAIMER: Konnichi wa hazu (Hi Gang) and welcome back! First a big domo arigatou to Mr Haruka-San Takachiho and all the other creators of anything the Boss Man KZ and Story Teller Guy are using. Of course anyone who gives them credit where credit is due is quite free and welcome to use their creations as well. Now here's what happened at the end of Trucks In Space in case ya came in late.

Haru Glory and Elie were arguing with the Master and the Ranee that 'Decalogue' must never be wielded even without the 'Dark Bring' shadow stones. Harv and Natasha brushed off their fears as pointless old wives' tales.

"Have you got a target range on this old tub, Mr Harvey, sir?" asked the young RAVE Master and the Ranee pointed at the deck floor.

"Twelve levels down, kid. Why?" she demanded curiously.

"My RAVE sword is charged with only five 'Light Bring' RAVE stones but its power is tremendous. I want to show you what this blade can do but I want to do so safely, Miss Natasha." said Haru. Harvey nodded and allof us were soon trooping down to the lift cars. Very soon we were all standing in a dank cellar-like room. At the far end were all kinds of targets, come stationary, some moving. Natasha motioned for all of us to find seats behind the heavy shields constructed of translucent Kelvinite. Haru insisted that Miss Elie join us for her own safety and this she did though quite reluctantly.

"Are you ready, Master Glory?" asked Harvey and the kid yelled that he was ready and for us to watch carefully. Then he unlimbered a sword almost the same size as Mr Kurosaki's 'soul reaper zampakutou' and grasped its hilt in both of his fists. Taking a few practice swings just made the rogue time lord impatient. He kept checking his wristchromo. At last with a sweeping flourish of his sword Haru Glory 'fired' his blade like an ion cannon!

A blast of pure crimson/green flame eradicated the targets, all 2,000 of 'em! Not content with that the flame had soon turned the bulkhead of the TARDIS white hot and suddenly the entire back wall began to glow and melt!

"Stop. That is more than enough, Master Glory. Please extinguish your sword. Your point is well taken, sir but you labour under a misapprehension if you believe that I wish the 'Decalogue' and the 'Ultimate Dark Bring' shadow stone to annihilate anything. I am not as callous as all that after all.

"No. All I want is to possess the blade and stones. With just the 'threat' of those weapons I will soon bring all the worlds of all the Universes to their collective knees and I shall be the Universal Ruler of all creation! Evem those two doddering fool 'Guardians' of the Universes will be forced to bow down to me, The Master of all worlds! Now tell me all that you know of this 'Decalogue' blade and these Shadow Stones, boy! (Haru shook his head) Torg! Clap him in irons and toss him in the brig!" ordered the megalomaniacal despot of the Universes.

"Leave him alone or you'll answer to me, old man!" screamed Elie who was now armed with a pair of what looked like the cop nightsticks from 'Adam 12'! An instant later they shot fire and lead which merely bounced off Harvey's chest. Elie kept firing until her ammo had exhausted itself. Then she tossed her blasters down in disgust.

"She can keep the foolish boy company, Natasha! Put her ass in irons as well. To the brig with her dammit!" Harvey was purple with uncontrolled rage and the rest of us bolted back to the lift cars. Angie and Mr Solo had recognized where we were and had soon led us back to our dormitories in our part of the TARDIS.

There we remained until one day when Torg announced planetfall on the ninth planet of the Terran solar system- Pluto. Yeah I know the ancient Terran astrogeeks called it a star but I been there and they ain't! Trust me folks. It's a planet, not a moon, not a star, not an asteroid but an honest to goodness planet! And now to proceed-

Chapter 1 'Zoe's Homecoming' or 'Another Quest Begins'

We were all eagerly looking forward to strolling on a real surface instead of just metallic decks after so many weeks of traveling the solar systems of the cosmos. Nobody was looking forward to landing on Pluto than our navvy Zoe Morton. After all she had been born and bred on Pluto. Soon we had touched down with Harvey Master's TARDIS and using the chameleon circuit he and Natasha Ranee had disguised his Type 40 Traveling Machine to resemble a small bungalow on the outside. Oro a surprise though for anyone who ventured inside the place! TARDISes exist in more than a single dimension so they are bigger on the inside than they are on the outside, a lot bigger!

"I have been led to believe, Miss Morton, that Pluto was once your home world. Is this information correct, my child?" asked Harvey in as oily a voice as he could muster up. Zoe frowned at the rogue time lord.

"Yeah, I hail from the dog planet, Harv. So?" she replied icily. Harvey pointed to Haru Glory who was still waving around his RAVE sword much to the chagrin of several of the others whom he kept poking it into.

"Have you ever heard of a sword like that one named 'Decalogue' or the 'Dark Bring' sword? How about the 'Shadow Stones' that power it?" demanded the time lord anxiously. Zoe pursed her lips and knitted her brows in thought.

"Yeah but the thing ain't on Pluto or any of its moons or battle moons, sir. All I can tell you is that when I was a kid I once heard an old man talking about a 'dark sword' powered by dark crystaline stones. When Uncle George asked him where it might be found the old man laughed and told us to seek it in 'the places between the stars' if we dared. Uncle George bought him another drink and he told us that the blade would be found not more than sixty or seventy lightyears due Northeast from the very Northernmost tip of Pluto which is of course 'Terrayama' or 'Mt Terra' in the 'Glycier' district.

"More drinks elicited the information that the stones had been scattered across the galaxies by the first RAVE Master several hundreds of thousands of centuries ago. So the 'Shadow Stones' are like those golden 'dragon balls' that those asinine Saiyaans and their dipstick friend Bulma Brief are forever hunting. Now if you'll excuse me I am going to visit my grandmother and grandfather before we leave." said Zoe Morton and the Master dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

"Zoe darlin', ain't there some sorta prophecy about that 'dark sword' and those stones?" drawled Han Solo who had calmly strapped on his blaster and picked up a plasma laser rifle. Zoe shook her head and suggested that Doc MacDougal might know. Then she headed after the rest of us who were already hurrying to the transporter room.

Angie was walking in front of me and Suzy. She was trying to read a star chart superimposed over a Southern Pluto airways map. Our own Templar gal was convinced that her knightly ancestours had colonized this dark cold world where temperatures could descend the thermometer all the way down to minus 800 degrees Kelvin which is like minus 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit!

To prove her theory correct she had to locate at least one Templar temple and to hasten the search Sister Trish had agreed to scout out the terrain from the air if that is she could still fly in this dense atmosphere. If she couldn't fly on her own she would have to use jet pack wings or rocket boots or both. Most of the rest of us were wearing our jet pack wings and rocket boots and since the Boss had made wearing the darn things an order with no exceptions I guess we were all joining in the hunt.

The Master had allowed Angie carte blanche authority to search for the temple because he had reasoned that perhaps the Knights Templar had left some clues to the hiding place of the 'Decalogue' even if they probably had no idea where the old RAVE Master had hidden the 'dark stones'. We were just glad for some shore leave even if it did mean more work. The air was dark and dismal and Rio demanded to know when the sun was coming out.

"On Pluto there are no suns, Rio. The entire planet is under a dome somewhat like the one over Moravian City back on Mars. We must manufacture our own heat and light. This is summer; wait until winter when it gets really dark." chuckled Zoe.

"Aha! I found it, children. That 'Decalogue' prophecy I mean. When we stop for luncheon I will translate it for you. It is written in an ancient Terran language called Chaldean. May I suggest we get a wiggle on to quote my dear friend Sister Rosette of the Terran Magdalene Order. I am quite chilly, indeed I am. Most unusual for a Scotsman to be cold. By the by, does anyone know the temperature?" asked Sir Hiram MacDougal while he was pulling on another pair of thick gloves.

"It's balmy today, Hi. About minus 200 Kelvin, that's minus 600 Fahrenheit. I've adjusted our air temperature under the dome to 65 Fahrenheit. Just looking at that sky though makes you shiver, Hi. I'll kick it up a notch to 72. Hey! Where are those skysleds Natasha was supposed to beam down here? Damned if I'm gonna walk sixty kilometres (45 miles) to the Basalt Mountains!" replied Zoe who looked snug as a bug in a rug in that heavy hooded fur parka, heavy boots and fur gloves.

Swathed across most of her face was another piece of fur. We all had something like that around our faces too because despite being under a dome the wind still howled at close to 90 kilometres an hour (75 mph) and was forever threatening to knock us on our keesters or faces depending on its direction! Oh and did I mention that even under layers of coats, sweaters, parkas, mufflers, hoods and the like we were still freezing our buns off!

Then I caught sight of our transports or rather I think I saw them. The snow was so thick I couldn't be certain what they were. Suzy whispered to me that to board our skysleds we would have to leave the dome and trek overland about 300 metres. You see Suzy had been deployed here with the Brigadier and Zoe many times in the past so she knew the lay of the lands.

A moment later I felt a blast of very frigid air that was so cold I shivered. The next blast coated my skin with a thin coating of ice! Even under my garments I felt ice crystals forming on my skin. Han and Blue had forced open the portals at the end of the long domed corridor we had been walking through. Three hundred metres doesn't sound like a long way, does it?

I mean in golf terms that is just a super long drive or an average length par 4, right? Well it took us the better part of an hour to traverse it in that ice fog and raging blizzard! I was never so glad to get into one of those cramped sleds before in my life than I was when I got into the lead sled's rearmost right seat and had to sit on Sir Hiram's lap! Miss Donovan was on Han's lap and the Brig was sitting on Blue's lap. Most of us gals were perched on the guys' laps but I could only see our seats.

Even inside this contraption we could not see anything but white outside. I asked Miss D how in the nine worlds Mr Zero would be able to see where he was flying. As always she had a glib reply.

"Easy. Zoe's home is at the foot of Mt Ziggarand. That's the tallest mountain in this sector of Pluto. That's it right out there, the big blue peak, see it? (I nodded) All Zachie will need to do is keep that mountain right in front of him and he cannot possibly get lost. I sure hope Segovia and Axelian have a fire going and have repped up some hot cocoa and soup for us when we get there! Oh they're Zoe's Mom and Dad well not her real ones. Zoe's adopted but she doesn't like to tell people about it." explained the violet-maned minx vixen.

"Yeah so why she bothered to tell you is a mystery to me, Airhead. Everybody knows that you can't keep yer big trap shut." chortled the Boss Lady from her seat on Jon Harlock's lap. Miss D bristled but said nothing.

"It's not quite smooth sailing, kids. Zach, be sure you keep us within those aerial lines on the nav screens. Deviate by as much as a centimetre and we are violating Tycordian airspace. They won't hesitate to fire on us if we step outta bounds. I figure that we should reach home by dinnertime at 1700 that's 5 o'clock PM for our visitors." said Zoe.

I checked my wristchromo and blinked. It was only a little past 0900 or 9 AM. The Boss must have anticipated my next question because she quickly responded without being asked.

"Although we are only about a hundred and fifty kilometres from Zoe's place I told our drivers to keep their speeds down because these winds could easily throw us into those mountains at a G force of fifteen or sixteen hundred." she growled.

"Ja! Ist better by far to be safe than sorry, mein Fraulein!" shouted Fritz Von Dekker, the Green Baron whose voice was right beside my ear! Sitting on his lap with a pair of heavy earmuffs over her ears was his captain and Jon Harlock's niece Emma Emeraldas.

"You don't have to yell, Fritzy! That damned storm's outside not inside! I'm hungry. Anyone got any candy with 'em?" complained the master of the 'Emerald Queen' and Rio tossed her a candy bar.

"Where'd ya get candy, Rio? That machine of Harvey's took my 3 credits and didn't give me a bar!" howled our 'Blonde Bomber', Minnie Mae 'Kitten' Hopkins bouncing up and down painfully on the Casterlain's old knees.

"It took my 3 credits too 'Kitten' so I kicked it until the door popped open. Then I just stocked up my knapsack. Anyone else want some?" giggled Dio DelCroix and of course everyone was suddenly famished. I confess that I too wolfed down a couple of Galaxy Chokky bars. Now it was ten hundred hours and Mt Ziggarand didn't look like it was a kilo closer than it had been the last time I'd checked my wristchromo at 0930.

"Where are we gonna stop for lunch, mum?" Rio wanted to know at eleven hundred and we all looked at the poor kid like she'd just escaped from a lunatic colony!

"Do you see any 'Asteroid's 'R Us' pizza palaces out there, kiddo? There ain't nothin' out this far in the boonies. We'll have a big dinner tonight. Eat some more candy why don't ya?" chuckled Zachary Taylor Zero, easing the speed up a fraction which threw us sideways violently. He quickly dropped back to 35 kph and the sled righted itself.

At 1500 (3 PM) I had my first glimpse of Mt Ziggarand close up and it made Terra's Mt Everest look like a mushroom! The entire mountain was a deep cobalt blue and nestled at its base was a strange looking group of buildings. Nyssa's voice cracked in my ear through my comm link earrings.

"That's where Zoe lives with her foster parents. Axelian Morton built it himself well that's what he tells everyone anyway. Truth is it's one of Bulma's dad's Capsule Corporation building edifice capsules. Axel liked the haciendas in old Terran Mexico he saw in the vid films so Mr Brief designed this place just for him. Brr! It's getting colder and Jamie won't put the window up! Oh well Mrs Morton's a great cook! How much longer, Dog Boy? Two more hours? OK thanks. Guess I'll take a nap for awhile. Nyssa out."

Dog Boy was the big hanyou kid InuYasha. Sango had refused point blank to sit on Miroku's lap so Kagome was on the amourous monk's lap while the demon slayer gal from Terran Japan was perched on Kouga's lap. The only guys in our group without a lap passenger were the drivers of the skysleds. Harvey had offered to use his TARDIS to enclose the Morton homestead but that idea was nixed because of the terrifically high speed winds and because directly above the house was a gravity well. These were the same reasons why we had not simply 'beamed' over to Zoe's house.

Haru Glory and Elie looked glum because they both knew the chaos and destruction that could be wrought with the 'Decalogue' Shadow Sword and neither Natasha Ranee nor Harvey Master had been dissuaded in the least from their foolhardy idea of finding the dumb thing. Harvey said it was to be a threat weapon only but if that was his only intention then why was he so adamant about finding all of those powering stones? None of us really trusted the rogue time lord and none of us trusted the rogue time lady one little bit!

At 1645 or a quarter to five in the darkening afternoon we finally reached Zoe's domicile. Auntie Segovia and Uncle Axelian welcomed all of us with open arms and steaming mugs of hot chokky laced with brandy for the oldsters and dotted with marshy mallows for us kids. At least it was piping hot and there was plenty of it to go around. It was help yourselves from the big tureen of blazing hot home made tomato soup and I made a pig out of myself thinking this was dinner! Three big bowls later Auntie Segovia announced that dinner was ready.

Thankfully dinner was roast beef sandwiches smothered in rich gravy, roasted potatoes and corn on the cob, nothing filling you see. Dessert was chokky mocha mousse and hot java to wash it down. Hi announced he was full after his fifth helping of everything in sight. Puffing on a fat after dinner cigar he observed that translating the Chadean runes would take him most of the night so reluctantly Harvey agreed that our expedition would be delayed until after lunch tomorrow. Uncle Axel didn't think that we were going to find any Templar tabernacles on Mt Ziggy but he admitted that he could be wrong.

We were all ordered to clean and oil our weapons and have them loaded and ready for inspection by eleven hundred tomorrow morning. Auntie Segovia had plenty of rooms so we all had our own bedrooms. Angie told us that all we could hope to find here on Pluto was a clue pointing to the next clue beyond this system. Han thought that 'the places between the stars' might mean that the blade of destiny might be concealed on a burned out 'dwarf star' between two brighter stars. Blue agreed and then observed that the number of 'dwarfs' in the next system alone numbered in the hundreds of thousands! That meant we would not be hunting quail. I mean that it was not going to be easy, not by a long shot.

A knock came on my portal and I opened it to admit Sister Trish who had changed back into habit and cornet. I repped her up a mug of cassartin tea and she sat down. I picked up my own mug of java and sat beside her on the sofa.

"Edie, I don't think I can fly on this world. For one thing I can only fly while I'm wearing my habit and cornet. Go outside like this and I'd freeze my ass off. Besides that these frigid winds don't create any updrafts. Guess I'll be using jet pack like you." sulked the nun.

"And rocket boots, kid. Don't forget them. Has Hi made any progress on those runes?" I replied and Trish shook her head.

"I wonder if I can just stay here tomorrow. After all I'm just an innocent bystander and a pacifist too." answered Trish.

"Well you did find us those ceiling clues on Shimougou so I doubt if the Boss is gonna let you stay home. You're a really useful member of our team, kiddo. Want some cookies?" I replied and Trish gathered up a dozen in her habit's lap holding it up a little and picked up her tea. I tossed her a plastic baggie and she shoveled the cookies into it. Then she took her leave and floated back down the hallway. Her flying seemed to work quite well in this artificial gravity inside the house.

I tapped my comm link earring and buzzed Angie who answered immediately.

"Yeah? What d'ya want, Edie? Make it quick. I'm awful busy here." she snapped.

"No luck huh? Sorry I bothered ya, Angie." I replied and prepared to sign off.

"That's OK, kiddo. Sorry for snappin' at ya but this Chaldean is weird. Eight different alphabets if ya can call them alphabets and everything seems to indicate somewhere around Pandora near Dike and Justitia but that makes no damned sense at all." she trilled back and I got a scathingly brilliant idea! Yeah I do have my moments, guys.

"Angie! Aren't they the Scales of Justice and ain't Librarius on the other side of 'em with Pandora in the middle?" I trilled.

"Yeah that's right, Edie. So?" she trilled impatiently.

"Didn't Pandora have a jar she wasn't supposed to open? What if our next clue is hiding in her jar? I mean what if our clue is behind Pandora? Isn't that possible?" I trilled and I heard a crash.

"Sorry. I knocked over the table in my excitement. Listen to this part, Edie! "Do ye open that which must never be opened but was opened and there ye will find the jar for that which thou seeketh" Don't you get it, kiddo? Behind Pandora is the sheath for 'Decalogue'! If it's like Haru's blade it's got power of its own! InuYasha's 'Tetsusaiga's sheath always points towards his sword when he draws the blade out of it. Maybe the sheath is the next marker to point towards the 'Dark Blade'. Good catch, Edie. I have got to tell Hi about this. 'Night now. Angie out." she trilled and then she was gone.

I yawned and got into my pajamas. I finished my java and cookies and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillows. Tomorrow was gonna be one tough day to be sure! "night all.

END of Chapter 1. Chapter 2 'Tip the Scales' or 'Hidden Secrets' soon. Have a nice week- Edie.


	2. Ch 2 'Tip the Scales'Hidden Secrets'

THE PLACES BETWEEN THE STARS

Chapter 2 'Tip the Scales' or 'Hidden Secrets'

DISCLAIMER: Konnichi wa hazu (Hi Gang) and welcome back! First a big domo arigatou to Mr Haruka-San Takachiho and all the other creators of anything the Boss Man KZ and Story Teller Guy are using. Of course anyone who gives them credit where credit is due is quite free and welcome to use their creations as well.

"Do ye open that which must never be opened but was opened and there ye will find the jar for that which thou seeketh" Don't you get it, kiddo? Behind Pandora is the sheath for 'Decalogue'! If it's like Haru's blade it's got power of its own! InuYasha's 'Tetsusaiga's sheath always points towards his sword when he draws the blade out of it. Maybe the sheath is the next marker to point towards the 'Dark Blade'..."

"What marvelous news, my children. Torg, our destination is the constellation 'Scales of Justice' in the Beta Phi Omega Kappa Quadrant. I want to be there at noon yesterday so make all possible speed." said Harvey Master at the breakfast table in the morning.

"By your command, my Lord Master. It shall be done." replied Torg the dog thing that piloted the TARDIS. He was like the Mugghi in a way. He was after all cute and lovable looking like them but then again he was ruthless and totally devoted to Harvey and Natasha. Pleasant enough as a rule but cross him and there would be Hell to pay I had no doubt!

"What is behind Pandora, Mr Solo? Do you have any idea? Have you ever had occasion to travel there?" asked Angela Maria Theresa de Montmartre de Roncesvalles suddenly which caused Han Solo to drop his blueberry Danish pastry into his mug of java. He stared at the poor young redhead like she had just suggested that he knew from personal experience where to find Dante's Inferno!

"Y'all have got to be joshin' me, ma'am. That is Tycordian space over there and that is taboo to any but the Corallians and the Rygovians. Even us smugglers and pirates give the place a wide berth. Why d'ya ask, Contessa?" he replied with a worried look on his face.

"Because pirate, that is our next port of call. That is what was meant by the places between the stars. That which must never be opened is a reference to Pandora's jar or box as it is usually incorrectly referred to and the next line says but was opened. Obviously we cannot 'open' a world unless we use the 'God Gun' on it..."

Angie was violently interrupted when Fleet Admiral Zachary Taylor Zero fell off his chair and crashed to the floor- hard.

"Don't even joke about that damned thing, Contessa! Please! On its lowest setting that bloody gun can vaporize Terra's Luna (Earth's Moon) and I sure as Hell don't want to find out what it can do if its power is increased!" he shouted. Most of the gang having never seen the 'God Gun' in action thought that Zachie was off his rocker but not me. I, for one, had seen it fired- two or three times bringing sheer chaos and mass destruction every single time!

"If I might continue, sir? (Zach waved his hand after accepting a refill from Neko Olson) We are not contemplating firing that blasted gun. What I meant was to 'open' a world must mean it is concealing something behind it like another world, a moon, an asteroid or something. So to 'open' it we simply jet around behind it for a quick look see and maybe drop off an away team..."

"What? Are you outta your gourd, Templar gal? Didn't ya just hear Han tell us that's Tycordian space back there? Those guys would cheerfully ice every single fool one of us that is stupid enough to visit their territory!" yelled pink-headed Suba (Subaltern- a rank between 1st and 2nd lieutenants) Kome Sawaguchi once on loan to the 3WA from Terra's 'Blue Seed' in much the same way that Brigadier Marlene Angel was once on loan from Earth 2 Alliance's 'Blue Gender'. Now both were tro-cons in their own right and commander and exec of the newly commissioned 'Lovely Angel 3' scientific exploratory patrol starship.

"Ah good! A volunteer for the away team. Let me see. Suba Sawaguchi, Brigadier Angel, Lt de Roncesvalles, Sir Hiram, Mr Solo, Lt Olson, Captain Harlock, Captain Emeraldas, Marshall O'Halloran, Commodore Donovan, young Hansel & Gretel, the 3 Doctors, Sister Patricia, Admiral Zero, Natasha, Suba Vincent, Ensign Hopkins, Mr Kouga and Mr Dog-Boy pardon me Mr InuYasha. That should do it. May I suggest you make all possible haste once you arrive. Use one of the shuttles as it will too far to take a skysled. Torg will beam you back up when you have accomplished your mission. Any questions? No? Very well. You have half an hour to pack up your kits and hold your briefing session. Torg will prepare your vessel and meet you in the main bay at (He consulted his wristchromo) 0930 hours, that means half past nine for you civilians. Dismissed." Harvey finished giving his orders in a tone that brooked no interference fully expecting us to obey.

"Man! He didn't pick us, Edie!" whispered Rio and a second later I could have strangled the brat!

"Oh yes I nearly forgot. Without the assistance of Cadet Jordan (Me) Lt de Roncesvalles could never have solved this riddle. Therefore, she and Cadet DelCroix (Rio's face fell) will join the away team. Good luck to you. That will be all." added our leader.

A half hour later we all piled aboard the 'Gekkio' shuttle for the trip to Pandoras's dark side and none of us were looking forward to the trip nor to what we were likely to find there. Rio cried nonstop from the time we left the TARDIS until we had sighted what 'Cat' Vincent had christened 'Gunsmith's Folly' as was her right since she had spotted the tiny atoll asteroid before the rest of us.

The place looked deserted when we touched down onto its surface and exploring it would take no time at all. The whole place was only half a kilometre by a quarter of a kilometre. A kilometre is 0.62 of a mile so you do the math. There was a good updraft so Trish dropped her kit, took off all of her heavy outer garments and hats, hoods, gloves and the like leaving her in her pastel blue habit and starched coronet winged cap.

She leaped straight up and went up and up and up until she was no more than a tiny speck beside a white fluffy cloudbank. Then her voice trilled in my comlink earrings. She had found something and she was pointing excitedly at the centre of a nestling ring of hills due West of our location. The rest were already double timing it over the nearest hillside and we followed them.

In a matter of minutes I saw what had excited Trish so much. In the valley formed by the hills was a huge all seeing eye atop an unfinished pyramid shape. These symbols had been formed using small stones and some sort of blackened soot. However, search as we might we found no openings of any sort in the hillsides or the valley.

Bored with the whole thing and still sniveling a mite Rio looked up above the Templar symbols and-

"Holy Shit, Edie! See it? Up there, man! Look evrybody!" she yelled loud enough to draw anyone looking for us right to this spot.

Then we saw it. From this side of Pandora the 'scales' were only partially visible. That portion seemed to be the upper half of Justitia's sword and it was pointing due North. Angie's star chart indicated that the nearest spot due North of the sword tip marker was Cerberus VI. With that much ascertained we headed back to the 'Gekkio' at a dead run. Why? A Tycordian battle moon was chasing us and firing heavy disruptor beams at us!

While the Boss Lady, Wolfie (Kouga) and Dog-Boy (InuYasha) kept up a steady barrage of fire from their plasma rifles the rest of us piled aboard. As soon as the portals swished shut Han trilled Torg to 'get us the Hell outta this frying pan and now!' I felt my tummy go queasy again like it always does when I transport and Rio threw up all over poor Hi and Zach. Then the 'Gekkio' settled down, the portals flashed open and Torg was standing at the controls of the TARDIS's transporter room. While the rest of us disembarked in a somewhat orderly manner Rio ran for the bathroom and Angie raced for the bridge where she knew Harvey was waiting.

The course was quickly changed by Zoe Morton and we were headed for Cerberus VI 125 lightyears away.

"Darn it all! It's gonna take us almost two whole days to get there!" sulked Miss Donovan while the Boss Lady chuckled and told her that 'Rome wasn't built in a day' which made no sense at all and Miss D told Miss O she was a dipstick broad! Miss O then called Miss D an airheaded freak and then things got nasty! That brought the Brigadier over and she soon soothed things over. Besides it was time for lunch and we were all hungry as usual. Granny Rockabelle and Winry had prepared a great lunch and everyone had seconds and some folks even had thirds!

After lunch Angie, Han, Hi and Mar adjourned to the star room to study their next clue if there was one. Rio went to the holo decks to play or swim or something. The rest did their own things. Me? I decided to read up on the Decalogue that was causing all this consternation amongst us.

"The 'Decalogue' (I read from the Master's 'Galactic Compendium' which is like a wikipedia of data out here) or Shadow Sword is also called the Dark Bring and it is powered by dark bring or shadow stones although the exact number is unknown. Lik the Dragon Balls these shadow stones have been scattered across the cosmos. The only thing known for sure about this deadly sword is that it will supposedly grant its wielder complete domination over all things in all the Universes! (Scary stuff huh?)

"Its location is a closely guarded secret and is unknown even to the Gallifreyan time lords! (That explained why the Master and the Ranee needed our help!) The sole clue is that it is located beyond the Terran solar system's 'dog world' (Pluto?) in 'the places between the stars' and is to be found only 'a few lightyears North' from this world."

That was all? I keyed up the entire file on 'Decalogue'; 'Shadow Stones'; 'Dark Bring'; 'Shadow Sword'; 'RAVE'; 'Symphonia' all to no avail. In desperation I keyed in .org and I even searched the books in .org and found only references to Haru and his motley band of jolly idiots!

Next I used my vidcell phone and called Haru Glory. He was polite and gentlemanly enough for a kid but he steadfastly refused to tell me anything about the 'Decalogue' I did not already know. I trilled Rio and she suggested the two of us beat up haru and make him talk to which I told her that was against all the rules we had learned at the Academy!

"Who's to know, Edie? We can handle that little creep, can't we?" she chuckled. I had to pull rank on her! Yeah we are both Sub-Ensigns but I am also an acting full Ensign and Rio isn't so I outrank her.

'Artok' told me that the alchemists/alkahestrists were working in one of the research labs so I went over to see them. That was a huge waste of time because the only one that had even heard of the 'Shadow Sword' was the creepy Ninja guy Gaara and all he knew was that his sensei had told him it was bad news! Then he asked me why since this thing was so deadly and lethal were we helping the 'flaming fools' at all? I could only reply with the lame excuse that we had been ordered to by our superiors.

Apparently Ninja shinobi decided what orders they would or would not carry out but then again Ninja are spies, thieves, protectors, bodyguards and the like while we in the 'Intergalactic Space Command' and the 3WA were cops! Well me and my fellow cadets were sorta like cops in on the job training anyway.

Before I left the lab the Fullmetal Alchemist kid and his brother in the tin suit recharged the power packs in my laser sword, ion cannons and even my vidcell phone! With alchemists aboard we could sure save a ton of credits on power packs that was for sure, for sure! It was a mistake to tell Rio about it though because she kept finding stuff that had to be recharged or fixed all day long until finally Miss Izumi told her politely but firmly to stay out of the lab or she would tell the Boss Lady. That did the trick nicely. None of us wanted to tangle with She Who WILL Be Obeyed!

Angie, Han, Hi, Miss D, Harvey, Natasha, Trish, Zoe, Nyssa, Nami nor even Blue were able to figure out the cryptic riddle that Angie had found on the star chart scrolls when she had superimposed the old scrolls on top of a modern star chart of Cerberus VI and they were all quite frustrated.

"Hi there guys, mind if we come in?" I asked and Hi smiled and beckoned me and Rio to come over to the big chart table where they were working. Almost automatically I whipped out my PDO and scanned the riddle into it. It really made no sense at all and Rio said so. Rio DelCroix is not shy and always says exactly what is on her mind which almost always gets her and whoever else is with her into big trouble. This was no exception.

"Boy oh boy, you guys sure are stupid. It's only a riddle so why don't you just solve it?" she giggled while baleful eyes were turned on both of us and Natasha suggested we go play with some live grenades! Blue simply pointed to the portals and said 'Out! The pair of ya!' I took the hint and hustled Big Mouth Rio back to our rooms.

Rio decided she was hungry. After all, she pointed out to me, it had only been a quarter of an hour since we had had our lunch. I repped her up some goodies and soda and she went to the rec room as happy as a clam. With her gone I took out my PDO and tackled the elusive riddle.

"Stand ye where Phoebus shall illuminate the ground of the three dogs when the Kalends of July are in the sky. Then and only then shall the secret be revealed by the sign and then shall ye be told that which ye would know by he who seeks the truth by daylight although he believes it still be the time of darkness. The Great King protects this treasure and only by satisfying him shall ye find this most wondrous thing in all the Universes. Beware of those who promise falsely for they shall be thy downfall."

Well if my ancient Greek mysthology was not in error Phoebus was the sun god known to the Romans as Apollo and the ground of the three dogs must mean the surface of Cerberus VI so when the sun shines down on the world's surface-

Kalends of July? I recalled reading that line in an old Terran sci fi writer's novel about traveling to the centre part of Terra. Yeah Jules Verne's 'Journey To the Centre of the Earth' and the line referred to when they could descend Mt Sneffels an old volcano and which entrance to use but did Kalends mean beginning, end or middle of the month?

"The first day of the month my dear Edna. That is the correct meaning of the term Kalends. It is from the Roman Kalenda. It is really a very interesting history-" began Artok who had no doubt divined my thoughts from what was on my PDO's vidscreen. I cut him off before he launched into another long diatribe like his uncle program 'CC' would have done had he been here.

"Arigatou er thanks a lot Artok. Now which astrological constellation is governed by 1 July I wonder?" I mused.

"Cancer the Crab, Edna love." replied Artok without having to be prompted.

"OK. Who seeks the truth in the daytime but he carried a lantern all the same? Di somebody or other I think?" I sked seeking to stump this know-it-all.

"Diogenes of course. Obviously the sun shall reveal an entrance at the begining of July when cancer the sign of the Zodiac is in the sky overhead and some symbol denoting the philosopher Diogenes will mark the entrance to a place where Alexander the Great's statue or likeness protects the sword you guys are after. Of course it will be booby trapped hence the 'satisfy the Great King' bit. Sorry kiddo but that last line has too many different interpretations. Do you need any more help with your homework, Miss Jordan?" Sometimes Artok could be a real pain in the rump!

"Thanks but no. You've been a big help, my friend. I'll let you know when I need you again. G'Bye." I replied and I was rewarded with silence. Unlike 'CC', Artok did not insist on having the last word. I quickly tapped in as much of the riddle's 'answer' as I could and then comm relayed it to Angie. Her shield code auto reply told me it had gone through OK. Then I took a long nap before dinner. I awoke with a jolt and sat bolt upright in my bunk a few hours later. My wristchromo read 1650 hours or ten minutes before five PM. Dinner was at five, sharp at five or Granny would give it to Ein, Luna, Artemis and Hayate!

Anyhow I had it! I knew exactly what that last line of the riddle meant!

END of Chapter 2. Chapter 3 'Find Me An Honest Man' or 'Take Your Best Shot' coming soon- Edie.


	3. Ch 3 'Find Me An Honest Man'Take Your

THE PLACES BETWEEN THE STARS

Chapter 3 'Find Me An Honest Man' or 'Take Your Best Shot'

DISCLAIMER: As we all know by now the Boss Man KZ and Story Teller Guy wanna thank Mr Haruka-San Takachiho for allowing us to use his creations and we wanna thank each and every one of the other creators whose works, characters &c. tht we have used in these fanfictions. Anyone is permitted to use any of our own creations without fear of reprisals provided of course that they likewise give us credit where credit is due. Now where was I? Oh yeah- I was puzzling over that cryptic final line of this ancient prophecy:-

"Stand ye where Phoebus shall illuminate the ground of the three dogs when the Kalends of July are in the sky. Then and only then shall the secret be revealed by the sign and then shall ye be told that which ye would know by he who seeks the truth by daylight although he believes it still be the time of darkness. The Great King protects this treasure and only by satisfying him shall ye find this most wondrous thing in all the Universes. Beware of those who promise falsely for they shall be thy downfall."

I wanted to explain my findings to old Hiram MacDougal before I made a fool out of myself in front of Rio, Han and Angie. After all, I might very well be wrong but all of my instincts said I was right. I entered the dining hall a little before 1700 hours and repped myself a frothy hot chocolate with lots of cream and sugar. I spotted Hi over by the 'health snacks' table that Rio had insisted that Natasha Ranee have added for every single mealtime and I sautered over to the table.

"Hullo there, Dr Mac- I mean Hi. Do you have a minute? (He nodded, his mouth full of some kind of Plutonian arugula so I continued) Great. I think I have finally figured out that last line of the prophecy. Thing is, sir, I don't think it was meant as a warning after all." I began and the elderly gentleman dropped his tray which was brimming with rabbit food and hustled me down the corridor to the chart room or what we had been using for one anyway.

He swiftly cleared the huge round table by the simple expedient of dashing all the paperwork on it to the floor. Then he unrolled the original vellum parchment containing the enigmatic prophecy. He studied it for a moment or two while I waited quietly beside him. Then he glanced over and beckoned me a bit closer.

"Sorry for givin' ye the bum's rush, girlie. It's just that I had the same idea you did and I wanted to check something on the original scroll. Now you were saying, my dear child?" he asked in his gruff Scot's burr.

"Those who promise falsely are 'liars', right? (He nodded curiously but said nothing) OK. Liars can also be spelled thusly- 'lyres'. For they shall be thy downfall. When I was a kid me and Rio went 'spelunking' (exploring caves) in a very deep crevasse and we misjudged the pitch of the descent and we fell down into a very deep cavern. We were stuck there until Mrs Hathaway and the search party found us late that night. We both got whacked good and proper for sneaking out of school and skipping our last five classes to go exploring but that's all water under the bridge now.

"Anyway couldn't 'beware' mean 'be where' making the real message something like 'be where lyres' cavern lies'?" I asked and suddenly wished I hadn't because Hi was staring straight in front of him and right through me! Suddenly his meathook of a hand smote the table savagely scattering the scrolls galley west.

"That makes a Helluva lot more sense than my interpretation, Edie me darlin'! I was trying to work in old Diogenes and hang it all I think I have now! Look here, girl. (He pointed out a star cluster on the star charts and whistled) The first part of the riddle points the way to the 'Decalogue' Shadow Sword to obtain which we must appease the 'great king' but how? The method of 'appeasing' him must be what is meant by the last line.

"This is the constellation of Orpheus whose fame was his musical prowess on a particular instrument- the lyre. (This time I whistled) Directly South of it on the surface of the planet itself is a huge crater. That crater is your cavern or I'm an Englishman, love. Inside that cavern will be a message instructing us how to 'appease the great king' so we can safely remove the sword. I must speak with our fearless leader. We must have two away teams- one to seek the sword and the other to find the secret to removing the blasted thing from the caves. We must make haste because in three days it will be the 'kalends of July' the first day of the month of July. If we miss that window we will have to wait another year to find the 'Decalogue's hidey hole.

"Damn! I left my dinner tray and by now that rascal Dog Boy (InuYasha) or his moth-eaten wolf demon friend (Kouga the wolf youkai) will have scarfed up all of my goodies! Ah well to the victors go the spoils eh? (I told him that both the big hanyou and the mangy wolf were on guard detail and had been ordered by Harvey Master not to allow anyone to use the transporters to leave the TARDIS especilly Zoe Morton. After all, Pluto was her home world and she just might be homesick. Actually she hated the place and had only returned to it as a favour to our fearless leader, the Boss Lady) Well I can always have Granny rep up something for us to eat. C'mon lass." he replied and off we went to a belated dinner.

I hated to disillusion the old Scot but Granny Rockabelle detested 'repping' and insisted on cooking her 'vittles' the old-fashioned way- on a stove and in an oven! It turned out OK though because Granny had made enough for three armies. She had thought that the Saiyaans had returned from their golden ball hunt. Bulma, Blackstar, Goku and Vegeta were still scouring the cosmos for those seven elusive 'dragon balls' which were needed to summon forth Shenron the Eternal Dragon of Terra or Porunga, his opposite number on Namek but nobody had told Granny they would be gone for months.

I wanted to sit with Hi but he had grabbed Angie, Zoe, Han, Blue, the Brigadier and herded them over to Miss D and Miss O's table to talk strategy so I sat at the dreaded InuYasha table. It was pretty tame since the big hanyou and the wolf were still on guard mount some eight levels above us. Kagome told us a very funny story about a forgetful white rabbit and a little Terran girl from the mid 19th Century named Alice and their adventures in a kingdom which was reached through his burrow. It was called Wonderland and it was quite delightful. The kids loved it so much they even ate all their veggies without being prompted.

Hansy and Grets told us all about their witch hunting adventures back on Terra. Hansy was still mad that the Boss Lady had told him to leave Robin Sena and Haruto Sakaki alone. He was used to killing witches and she was a witch, right? OK Haruto was a hunter as well but he had Robin as a partner and that made him a traitour in Hansy's book. Finally his sister boxed his ears and told him to leave the brat alone.

The other Brigadier aboard (Alex Louis Armstrong of the State Alchemy Army) told everyone at the table that it was simply not possible to erect a dwelling composed entirely of candy and other sweet treats unless the builder was an alchemist. Grets explained that the woman who had built the cottage had been an evil old crone, a witch. She had only built the cottage in order to ensnare hapless children and then she ate them. She and her brother had bravely defeated her by the simple ploy of shoving her into her own oven and then turning the fire up full blast.

"Cannibal! You children were quite correct to execute this wicked woman but still she should have had a fair trial first. That reminds me of a story about way back when Colonel Mustang (Now the Chief of the KP Police Force back in Furool City on Shimougou. His former exec Riza Hawkeye was now his boss. She was the Furool City's police commissioner) and I were fighting a campaign against Father in Amestris-" Mr Armstrong's storytelling was always a cue for anyone with an ounce of common sense to vamoose and most of us did. Kagome and Faye Valentine were stuck because they had drawn short straws for the babysitting details today. Tomorrow's lucky sitters were me and Rio DelCroix. Why we had brought the kids along on this daffy mission was beyond me but we had and someone had to look after the little tykes.

Last week Rinny and Ed Appledore had found Harvey's 'zero room' and used it for a playroom. Everything was swell until Ed and Winry Rockabelle decided to disassemble it to see how it worked! Fortunately Natasha caught them at it before they did any real damage to this important chamber on the TARDIS.

I wandered over to the head table to try and eavesdrop on the conversation when I felt a Kelvinite vise on my arm!

"Let's go, Edie. Your turn to wash. Rio! Get out here and dry! Edward! Alphonse! Stack! Winry! Now where the devil did that granddaughter of mine get off to? Better use gloves on those hands, Honey. You ain't used to lye soap!" ordered a small petite woman with a cheroot stuck between her teeth. When Granny Rockabelle said 'jump' all you said was 'how high, mum?' and that was all there was to that!

Lye soap? Oh she must have got another delivery from Granny Clampett or Jethro Beaudine. I hated this junk but it did do a marvy job on the dishes. Of course we just rep up dishes and recycle them but Granny didn't cotton to that kind of foolish wastefulness so we had to wash up the old-fashioned way because Granny did not cotton to new fangled machines either. I wonder how she cottoned to being aboard a Type 40 traveling vehicle whizzing through space at 50 lightyears a minute?

"Miss Jordan? While we're still young if you please! Miss Tsukino (Sailor Moon or Mooney)! Help Daisy and Elly Mae to clear those tables! Ladies and gentlemen! Your attention please! This hall is closing in twenty minutes! I would appreciate it if you would bring your trays up here when you finish eating! This is a dining hall not a board room so take your discussions someplace else! We need to clean up the hall! Anyone seen Winry?" shouted Granny at the top of her lungs. Sure there was a vidmike beside her but Granny didn't like mikes or PA systems either.

And so it went. I washed, Rio dried, the Elric brothers stacked. Then Elly Mae, Daisy and Mooney brought more stuff over and the ritual began all over again. At 1755 hours (5:55 PM) the board room table broke up and headed for the war room which was what Rio had dubbed the conference room that we were using as a star charts room. Granny dismissed us at half past six and I made a beeline for the war room. Rio headed for the holodecks with Mooney, Rin, Ed, Daisy, Elly Mae and some of the other kids. The Elrics and the RAVE group joined us in the war room for some strange reason and a few minutes later Harvey and Natasha joined our little bull session.

Harvey agreed that we needed two away teams. He placed Blue in charge of the group that Rio and I were assigned to and Mr Solo was captain of the other team. His team's mission was to locate the 'Decalogue' while Blue's was to find the crater cavern and discover the secret to 'appeasing' Alexander the Great so we wouldn't all get killed when we removed the 'Dark Bring' shadow sword.

Rio who was not a very brave tro-con cadet trainee in the first place refused to go with either team- point blank! At first that is until Harvey Master told her that the alternative was his brig! She beat blue to our skysled by twenty lengths! Ms DelCroix hates confinement. Hell she even squawks when we have to use the turbolifts on the 'LA2' for neko's (cat's) sake.

Legato 'Blue'summers was driving and he had Natasha Ranee beside him, poor tama (soul). Squeezed between them was Sister Trish whom Natasha made remove her oversized cornet much to her dismay and chagrin. The kid pouted for the whole trip belowground.

I was stuck between Dog Boy InuYasha and Wolfie Kouga. They were both miffed because their 'woman' Kagome had been placed with placed with Han and Harvey's team. Yeah at the end harvey decided he just had to come with us I mean them. Kaggy and Angie were uncomfy too. Angie was between Harvey and Han who was driving while Kaggy was stuck between the Boss Lady and the Airhead. I mean Miss O and Miss D ya know.

Rounding out the two sleds were the Elrics and Miss Izumi Curtis who were in the back of our sled while Han's sled had Zoe Morton, Boss Hogg and Brigadier Alex Louis Armstrong, the big lug! Where was our own Brigadier Marlene Angel you ask?

She was flying ahead of us with her jet pack and rocket boots because she was our navvie. Han's navvie was Nami Richards and whether she liked it or not she too had been kitted out with jet pack and rocket boots.

This way Master had explained we would not be blundering into any booby traps. Of course he and Ranee cared not a whit for our safety. They wanted to protect their own hides! Hansy and Grets had been assigned to the Dukes and the sheriff and his deputy from Hazzard County to make certain sure that they didn't try and 'eliminate' Robin Senna and Haruka Sasaki. They still considered Robin a dangerous witch and Hari was a 'sympathizer to witchcraft' according to Grets.

Torg had remained aboard in order to monitor our progress and yank us out of harm's way should the need arise. We hadn't even reached our assigned cavern before Dog Boy and Kouga howled that they were hungry! When I judiciously pointed out that we had all eaten before we'd left the TARDIS the big hanyou complained that had been ten whole minutes ago. I wondered aloud if all denizens of Terran Japan's Sengoku Jidai Era had been pigs and got a dirty look from the wolf.

"Heads up folks. This is 1 July and it's jest about high noon. That's what they call the 'Kalends of July' according to Contessa (Angie) and we should see our cavern real soon now so keep watchin' the skies. Solo out." Han's voice drawled into our ears through our comlinks and all of us instinctively looked up at the dark skies of Pluto.

"Damned good it's summer, guys. It's only 600 below (Kelvin) outside. In winter it would be much colder. For those of you that use Fahrenheit degrees it's about 2K below zero out there so keep your windows shut. Good thing we repped those cold suits for the Brig and Nami. Hey! Trish? You listening? Don't forget to put on your own cold suit before you do any flying. It gets even more frigid belowground ya know." trilled Zoe and suddenly it hit all of us that we weren't on Shimougou anymore.

"There it is! I saw it first!" screamed Rio (right into my ear) when the suns illuminated the hillside before us in a panorama of colours. I was envious now of Hi (Sir Hiram MacDougal) who had opted to direct ops from the TARDIS. The dour old Scot was warm and toasty not in fear of getting chilbains and pneumonia! As if reading my thoughts his voice boomed into our ears.

"Aha! Well found, my dear Miss DelCroix. The left passage leads to the bloody blade while the right leads to the mystery cavern so Han you take the left road while Blue takes the right road and we'll see who gets to Scotland afore ya."

"That doesn't even make sense, Hi. Off we go troops." chuckled Legato and he spun the steering column to the right and in another minute we were in a world of darkness with only the sled's illuminators for light. Marlene ignited her laser sword while I assumed Nami was doing the same in the left hand cavern. I prayed to Kami that all hands would be safe and make it back to the TARDIS in one piece.

An hour later we were halted by a voice of thunder that sounded strangely familiar to me.

"Halt! Not another metre! Your lives depend upon it! Brigadier? That you, love? Look below you. That's a false image. There is no floor. From here on you take shank's mare, you walk. Outta the sled please." The voice came from a portabel vidmike system and the speaker was- John Raven of the ISSP! As my eyes became accustomed to the gloom I saw Lt/Cmdr Trace Edwards and Captain Jim Moriarity of KASP standing beside the Ganymede cop! Flanking them were close to 40 KASP (Kaguran Air & Space Patrol) and ISSP (Inter Solar Systems Police) officers of the law.

Raven detached himself from his vidmike and strolled over to our sled. All of a sudden Rio and I had a bad feeling in our guts. This sure as the devil looked like trouble for sure. Blue and Natasha had already hopped out while the big hanyou and the wolf were flanking us. The Elric brothers were protecting their alchemy teacher and nobody looked too sure of themselves at all.

John Raven grabbed the Ranee by the forearm and deftly slipped a pair of force beam handcuffs onto her wrists. So amazed was the Time Lady that she almost fainted. Then he spun her about to face him.

"Ms Natasha Ranee or whatever the Hell your name is- I hereby place you under arrest in the name of the 'ISSP' for crimes committed against Gallifrey, Shimougou and wherever else you and your cohort the Master ahve been. You ain't obliged to say nothin' but if ya do, it will be recorded and used against you at the High Council of Judgment on Kurestan. Now where's your playmate?" John Raven's growl told her that he was not in the mood for any of her flippancy.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Raven. I plead the 114th Amendment (Of the Intergalactic Law Bible) and refuse to anser on the grounds it may give you even more evidence against us. Find him yourself." she replied saucily and John angrily shoved her into Jim Moriarity's waiting arms.

"I assume from what we were able to pick up over the Boss's vidmike (Apparently Miss O had concealed a 'bug' on the TARDIS) you guys are after something to 'appease the Great King'. That means the other megalomaniac's team must be after the 'Decalogue' itself, right? (Blue nodded) Then perhaps this will help you." John produced a small piece of crystal and handed it to Zoe whose eyes got big as dinner plates.

"A scrying crystal? Where did you find it, Raven?" asked Zoe excitedly. He pointed to a small alcove behind his men and Zoe raced over to it. She searched a bit and then stuck the crystal into a hole atop a staglamite. Instantly the cavern filled with brilliant white light and a maiden not unlike Sir Launcelot's Lady of the Lake appeared before us and began to speak.

"Know ye this. To appease the Great King ye must answer the riddle. What was under the gorderak tree both morning and night? That answer must be used to unlock the terrible 'Decalogue' which is hidden in the sister cavern. Make haste for even as I speak she whom be the last of her own kind hath discovered its place of concealment. If she should even touch it before the riddle be solved, chaoes will reign for all time on all the Universes. Hasten now and above all beware the Jabberwock! I, Lysette of Macedonia hath given ye this warning of doom. Farewell."

The blonde beauty ceased to speak and vanished as mysteriously as she had appeared. Before Zoe could grab the crystal from the rock it disintegrated into nothingness. An ominous rumbling was heard from above and Trish who was flying lookout for us let out a shrill whistle.

"I do not wish to hurry you but I think this place is getting ready to cave in on top of us. May I suggest we beat a hasty retreat? I'm gone, bye bye. 10-4 good buddies and all that crap. I'm gettin' out while the gettin's good." The airborne nun suited action to words and tore back up the way we had come like Ichabod Crane racing away from the Galloping Hessian in Tarrytown on Terra.

"Back to the 'walkers' men! Let's vamoose! Turn that sled around and get the Hell outta here dammit!" yelled John Raven and none of us needed a second warning. We all piled back into the sled and shot out of that cavern like we were being shot out of a cannon! John, Trace, Jim and their men in their 'galactic walkers' (Like Gundams) were not far behind us. We broke out onto the surface just as all Hell broke loose! The last 'walker' had finally struggled free of the debris and rocks when an explosion shook the planet and where an opening had been mere nanoseconds ago there was now just a solid cliff.

Out of the other cavern poured Han's team aboard their skysled with Nami Richards streaking across the heavens for the TARDIS. Then I noticed the Master. Harvey was clutching a sword that looked like the Sword of Omens from the Thundercats. It looked like a twin to the RAVE Sword carried by Haru Glory and it gleamed with fire. No wonder the caverns had collapsed!

"I'll take that, sir if you don't mind." said Trace Edwards and he yanked the blade from Harvey's fingers.

SNAP! It took but a moment for John Raven to force beam cuff the Master who was even more amazed than his Time Lady compadre in crime had been a few minutes ago. Trace began playing 'hitsen mitsurugi ryuu' (Kenshin Himura's Samurai kenjutsu or sword fighting technique) with the 'Decalogue' while I committed the blunder of the Century.

"Shadow! That's the answer to the Lady's riddle!" I howled and the blade in Trace's hands stopped glowing and turned to dust!

"Well said, my dear Miss Jordan! You see that sword was too powerful ever to be used by one person. Therefore, the Knights Templar and the Great King Alexander decided to make certain that if it was wielded it would be by someone who would not abuse its power.

"To that end they devised the riddle. If the riddle was solved and its answer keyed into the base where the sword rested in the cavern it would gbe safe to remove it. However, woe betide he who removed it without 'appeasing the Great King' for he would unleash the terrible Jabberwock on the Universes.

"If, however, the answer was uttered after the 'Decalogue' had been removed from the cavern then its powers would wither and die as would the sword itself. By caving in both caverns, my dear, you have effectively buried the feared Jabberwock for all eternity or until some other fool archaeologist like yours truly shows up and decides to dig him up again!" chortled Hi who had left the TARDIS with Torg when the rumblings had first begun.

Zoe Morton pointed out to Raven that Torg had been her pet on Pluto when she had been a child and he'd been forced to work for the rogue Time Lord many years ago. John released Torg on the spot and he flew into Zoe's outstretched arms. After that touching reunion was over John asked Zoe to maneuvre the TARDIS so as to encompass our sleds and his walkers along with the rest of us. He commandeered the Master's Type 40 traveling machine and told us all that we would be going home just as soon as he, Trace, Jimmy and their men (and ladies) had escorted their two prisoners back to Kurestan.

"Kurestan? We are to be tried before the High Council of Gallifrey or the High Command of United Galactica on Alderaan, are we not, sir?" demanded a suddenly terrified Harvey Master. Natasha Ranee didn't look any too well either. John laughed.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Gallifrey? Alderaan? I'm surprised you didn't want to go to Ganymede, Shimougou or Mars! Your crimes are too heinous and varied, my friends. All of the Federation has decided that the best place to try you is the New Republic of the Old Empire at Kurestan. That's where you're both going in the morning." John Raven rarely smiled but he did now.

"Another fine mess you've gotten me into, Harvey!" shrieked Natasha.

"Oh shut up, will ya! Nobody twisted your arm, Natasha!" yelled Harvey.

"How did ya know where we'd be, Mr Raven, sir?" Rio wanted to know and so did the rest of us.

"You can thank your fearless leader for that one. She spotted those space 'hijackings' as a ploy from square one. When the chiefs at the 3WA wouldn't listen to her she went over their heads and called 'God' himself. (Holy crap! He meant Mr Galadriel, the 'god' of the 3WA and the UG too) Uncle Vito called me and told me to get KASP and ISSP forces ready to pull out when he gave the word to go.

"Reds made damned sure that every space truck in your little fleet was fitted with a video/audio listening 'bug' buried deep enough in Artok's programming that it would go unnoticed through any checkpoints or scans. Problem was they had to be activated before they began sending to us. The method was simple. Reds had to say 'Artok, come here boy' in each cab.

"You see her dilemma, right? Sure we all think the Dirty- er I mean the Angels are baka nuts but she had to have a reason that would make sense or Harvey'd smell a huge Galordian rataronda for sure. When she broadcast the briefing instruction via vidmike speaker to all the trucks before the mission started she had her chance." explained the tall Ganymede ISSP cop.

"But I listened to her entire harangue on the TARDIS dammit! She didn't say a word about Artok!" shouted Natasha and John smiled at her.

"Of course not. She's a clever bird, that she is, baby. Reds 'whispered' that phrase just before she began announcing and then again afterwards. In addition she stuck it in half a dozen times at least during that boring lecture briefing. I know, kiddo, because I listened to the whole bloody boring thing. From that point on, you two didn't go anywhere or do anything that we weren't one step behind you all the way.

"Uncle Vito had given strict instructions that we were not to make a move until the Grand Marshall gave the OK. That order came late last night while all of the carousing and celebrations were going on. She told us about the caverns but until those 'Kalends of July' hit at noon even we didn't know where those caverns were located.

"Then how'd ya get inside ahead of us, John?" demanded Bluesummers and John grinned.

"Didn't I tell ya that both the ISSP and the KASP forces' ships are now equipped with transporters same as the 3WA ones are?" he chuckled and we all had a good laugh at that one.

The next morning we began our long haul to Seto Kaibo where Harvey and Natasha had to formally arraigned before they were transported to Kurestan for trial. Now we'd have a nice long relaxing voyage home or so I thought. Ya know what they always say about those best laid plans, don't ya?

END of Chapter 3. Chapter 4 'Next stop, Seto Kaibo' or 'Has Anyone Seen John Berringer?' coming soon.

Exciting huh? You don't know the half of it yet. Remember folks- I was there and I sure as Hell wish I'd never let Dad talk me into signing up for the 3WA cadet trainees course! Don't be so impatient, Rio. I'm telling this story, not you. They can wait awhile for the next chapter. Sayonara and have a nice week- Edie Jordan, Sub-Ensign, cadet/trainee, 3WA/UG.


End file.
